Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Sold by Moran Wealth Management LLC

Moran Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) by 4.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 25,211 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,075 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $6,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commerce Bank acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $231,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH now owns 4,815 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Acuity Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Acuity Brands by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 9,473 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 98.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AYI opened at $315.62 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $297.89 and a 200 day moving average of $266.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.72. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $176.93 and a one year high of $337.99.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Acuity Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Acuity Brands’s payout ratio is 4.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AYI. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Acuity Brands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Acuity Brands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.